Go Online to Find Your Ancestors ... or Amy's; Period Details: An Entry in the 1911 Census Family Ties: Amy Winehouse's Relatives Lived in Spitalfields, Left

Article excerpt

AMATEUR genealogists are able to see their ancestors' handwriting as the 1911 Census goes online today.

Census forms detailing the lives of 36 million people in England and Wales have been scanned and posted on an ancestry website where you can trace the history of your family and the house you live in.

Among those whose personal data was collected were then Prime Minister Herbert Asquith and Bloomsbury set author Virginia Woolf. The ancestors of David Beckham and Amy Winehouse are also there.

Researchers have also discovered the census record for the royal family, showing King George V and including four pages of household staff.

The 1911 Census is the oldest from which the original forms were kept and the first to record full details of British Army personnel stationed overseas. It covered England and Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, plus Royal Naval and Merchant Navy personnel who were on their vessels.

Eighty per cent of the available records from England have been uploaded and the remainder will go online in coming months.

The 1911 Census was the first to ask women how long they had been married and how many children they had. The records were made available by the National Archives after a ruling by the information commissioner.

Some sensitive details, such as names of children born in prison, are not included.

The documents have been digitised by the findmypast.com website and are available for a fee at www.1911census.co.uk.

Records show that Beckham's great-greatgreat grandfather, John Beckham, born in 1846, was employed by a council as a scavenger, while his great-great grandfather William Beckham, born 1870, was working as a cart or van driver. …